Dealing with dogs and ticks...

We've had our dog for 6 months, he's about 20 months old. Super furry doodle. On our vet's recommendation, we've been giving him the (expensive!) flea and tick monthly oral dose of Nexgard. It's supposed to prevent/deter ticks and fleas, seemed like a good investment. So far, so good. Today we took him on a hike and while I was de-burring him, found two ticks in his ears that had clearly been there a few hours (slightly engorged). Removed them and flushed them immediately. We hike quite regularly and don't want to expose ourselves to ticks through the dog. What do you do for tick and flea prevention, and is it effective? I'm guessing I should do more to protect the kids too! Would love any suggestions - thanks.

We use a band that you put around the dog's neck - it's called "Scalibor" and it's a prescription through our vet and it's good for 6 months. In the 5 years that we've had our dog, she has (maybe) had 2-3 ticks on her. Only one actually attached, but not yet engorged. We have acres of long field grass (for hay) and woods surrounding our house. There are definitely ticks in both. She doesn't bring them in with her either.

We use topicals like Advantix. We've had our dog 10yrs and have never found a tick on him. We live rurally with deer and other wildlife in our yard. The only downside is remembering to reapply it every 30 days.

We use the topical as well (currently the Pet Armour from Sam's Club) and have never found a tick on our dogs. We are in NC and I find numerous ticks on my DH and kids after their boy scout campouts. Our dogs are in our very tree/shrub heavy back yard. I wanted to try the Sam's brand because it is significantly cheaper than the Frontline we had been using and appears to be the same active ingredient.

We give our dog Bravecta. It's a chewable that lasts for 3 months. So far so good. Ticks are really bad this year (DD and I both have found a couple on both of us) - dog had one before the meds - but none since.

I've used this with my dog. Very effective.

I use pet armour every 3-6mo and use https://www.amazon.com/Halo-Purely-P...ets+cloud+nine

on the dogs and on ourselves whenever we're in an area where we might get ticks or mosquitos. Even when we went to zika areas in FL, its the only bug spray I use on us. The instructions are in the box but you use something like 1/4 tsp in 4oz of water in a spray bottle.

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Originally Posted by Meatball Mommie

We use a band that you put around the dog's neck - it's called "Scalibor" and it's a prescription through our vet and it's good for 6 months. In the 5 years that we've had our dog, she has (maybe) had 2-3 ticks on her. Only one actually attached, but not yet engorged. We have acres of long field grass (for hay) and woods surrounding our house. There are definitely ticks in both. She doesn't bring them in with her either.

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We use this collar and it has changed our lives - literally. We have 3 dogs, and spend every weekend in the woods. For years, we vaccinated against lyme, used the topicals year round (our dogs would come home with ticks in the winter if there was no snow cover.) and would spend a hour combing through/checking our dogs when we got home. It was not unheard of to pull 20+ ticks off our dogs when hiking since they would run off leash/off trail. one of our dogs, despite my vigilance and the topicals still had lyme. Since swithching to the collar, no ticks.

We also use Nexguard. We switched to it this year and I am not impressed. We will go back to a topical or Brevecto which I have heard good things about. We just went camping and had four deer ticks on the dog, two were engorged. We have NEVER had a deer tick. They have always been dog ticks and never four this time of year.

I see this is an old thread but just seeing it and wanted to urge those who use Bravecto to do some research before using it again. It sounds like this med may be responsible for many pet deaths.